Xavier Restrepo facial condition, explained: How NFL Draft prospect developed swelling from vascular malformation

In a position increasingly defined by giants and colossuses, Miami WR Xavier Restrepo sticks out for a different reason.

Restrepo is fairly diminutive by positional standards, standing at 5-10, 198 pounds. Such a figure will make him the smallest man on the field most of the time. Fortunately, that hasn’t had too much of an impact on his production.

Across the 2023 and 2024 seasons, just two players — Arizona star Tetairoa McMillan and UNLV standout Ricky White — tallied more yards than Restrepo’s 2,219. He added 17 scores during that spell, the joint-10th-best mark in the nation.

With intricate footwork on release and awareness that belie his years, Restrepo is one of the 2025 NFL Draft cycle’s more captivating receiving prospects.

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His build and stats are some reasons why. He’s also been candid about his experiences living with vascular malformation, a rare condition that can cause abnormal blood flow into the left side of his face.

With that, here’s what you need to know about Restrepo’s facial condition and how he’s overcome it to find success at every step of his footballing career thus far.

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Xavier Restrepo facial condition, explained

Restrepo lives with vascular malformation, a rare condition in which blood vessels “enlarge or form tangles, pockets, or shunting vessels that cause abnormal blood flow,” per Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The cause of the condition isn’t fully known, but genetic abnormalities are believed to play a role. Malformations can manifest in a variety of different fashions. Sturge-Weber syndrome, for example, sees a port-wine stain appear on the face at birth and grow as a child grows.

Restrepo’s condition, by comparison, sees the left side of his face swell up during physical activity. His mother, Ashley Padgett, explained the condition during an interview with Footballville in 2022.

“Any time he gets exerted, any time the blood flow is flowing and he’s working out and he’s exhausting himself, the blood flow, it makes the vascular veins…in his face swell up,” Padgett said.

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Restrepo was initially diagnosed with a strawberry hemangioma, a benign tumor that forms under the skin and leaves a strawberry-like birthmark that typically fades away by the time a child is 10. Further tests revealed that wasn’t the case. Instead, Restrepo was diagnosed with vascular malformation.

Padgett said that doctors used forceps when she gave birth to Restrepo. They pinched a “cluster of his veins and his face” while attempting to take him out of Padgett’s body.

The first time Padgett saw the malformation was when her son was three months old.

While malformations can cause a number of aftereffects, including pain and bleeding, many are purely cosmetic. Restrepo’s condition hasn’t affected his ability to play football at a high level.

In fact, he became one of the nation’s best receiving talents in spite of it. Restrepo posted 1,000-yard seasons in each of his final two years at The U, nabbing First-Team All-American honors in 2024.

Now, he readies for the next level, where he projects to serve as a slot receiver. Restrepo might not have the physical gifts of some of his contemporaries, but he’s made the most of his skillset thus far, proving a strong route-runner and savvy reader of the game during his time in Vice City.

Xavier Restrepo stats